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Google launches YouTube Trends Map to show the most popular videos across the US in real-time

Google has launched an interactive map today which shows the most popular videos across the United States broken down either by the gender or age of the viewer.

The interface is rather basic for now, but it’s a great way of seeing how viral videos are shared and received by different markets. The map shows a number of small thumbnail images, which correspond to a video list down the left-hand side of the webpage.

Rolling over the thumbnail on the sidebar reveals some additional information, including the number of regions where it is ranked “top” across America, as well as a link to view the original video on YouTube. Hovering over the image will also dim the map on the left-hand side so that users can see where it’s most popular.

The YouTube Trends Map is set to show results from both genders and all ages by default, but this can be changed using the various buttons accessible from the toolbar. The results are intriguing; switching to male-only triggered ‘The Walking (And Talking) Dead’ to erupt across the map, as well as a clip from Family Guy. A female-only filter, however, caused a trailer for Season 6 of True Blood to flood the screen.

The map shows popular videos based on the number of shares by users, but this can also be changed to show data based on total views. There’s also number of bar graphs underneath the map that convey the popularity of certain videos based on particular demographics.

Nick Summers is a technology journalist for The Next Web. He writes on all sorts of topics, although he has a passion for gadgets, apps and video games in particular. You can reach him on Twitter, circle him on Google+ and connect with him on LinkedIn.